


2. reckless

by wollfgang



Series: Lucitober Challenge [2]
Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: (sort of), Arguing, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Intervention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-23 18:57:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20894513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wollfgang/pseuds/wollfgang
Summary: Part of the Lucitober Challenge“Don’t be mad,” Dan says, trying to direct her to sit. Chloe stiffens her back and resists. After a moment he gives up, not willing to push her. “We just want to talk.”“About what?” The urge to leave now gnaws at her belly. There’s too many nervous pairs of eyes staring back at her. Dan takes a seat next to Ella.“About you and your safety,” Amenadiel answers, his tone calm. It only irritates.Annoyance sparks, sharp and hot in her chest. “What is this, an intervention?""Of course not,” Linda scoots forward. “Your friends are just worried for you, Chloe. We wanted to talk to you about our concerns and spend some time with you.”2/31





	2. reckless

There is something in the split second before Chloe unlocks the door that tells her not to go in. It’s an instinct that has kept her alive and one of the top detectives in her precinct. She hesitates, key in the lock. 

“Chloe?” Dan calls from inside. “That you?" 

Her nerves jangle a bit, but she pushes them back. He asked to meet her. He still has his key. It’s Dan. It’s fine. 

Except it’s not, because she closes the door behind her and notes there are too many pairs of shoes left at the entryway. She puts her keys in the bowl and drops her bag.

She keeps her boots on. 

"Hey, Dan. What’s going on?” she asks, already moving, pushing towards the living room where more people sit. Linda, Eve, Maze and Amenadiel are on one couch, Ella on the other. Dan’s hand presses against her back, cutting off her escape, and Chloe feels the abrupt snap of a trap closing. 

“Don’t be mad,” he says, trying to direct her to sit. She stiffens her back and resists. After a moment he gives up, not willing to push her. “We just want to talk.”

“About what?” The urge to leave now gnaws at her belly. There’s too many nervous pairs of eyes staring back at her. Dan takes a seat next to Ella. 

“About you and your safety,” Amenadiel answers, his tone calm. It only irritates. 

Annoyance sparks, sharp and hot in her chest. “What is this, an intervention?" 

"Of course not,” Linda scoots forward. “Your friends are just worried for you, Chloe. We wanted to talk to you about our concerns and spend some time with you.”

“Concerns?" 

"You’re taking dangerous cases, you’re not reporting in. You’ve been seriously injured in some way three times in the last month.” Dan runs a shaky hand through his hair and Ella slides a hand to his knee. “I’ve tried talking to you about it, but you always brush me off.”

“Because I’m _fine_,” Chloe insists. “Almost all our cases are dangerous. One or two scratches is not a big deal.” She’s too used to Lucifer having her back, too used to his supernatural abilities, even before she acknowledged that’s what they were. And if she forgets her grief in a moment of adrenaline soaked danger, even better. 

“If you would just take a partner with you,” he tries.

“I don’t need another partner.” Anger catches, like flame to fuel. She _has_ a partner. He’s just not here right now. 

“You never come to tribe night anymore,” Ella says. “You’re always busy." 

It’s true. Chloe is busy. Busy with work and with Trixie and a myriad of other things she finds to do so she doesn’t have to see them. The work keeps her focused on things that aren’t Eve and Maze eye fucking or Ella and Dan’s tentative flirtation or Linda happily chatting about Charlie. 

"Have you been out at all since-” Ella halts. 

“Since what?” Chloe snaps. Let them say it. They’ve been tiptoeing. Constantly. Like she’s made out of glass. 

“Since Lucifer left,” Maze finishes, blunt. It blooms like a bruise. Always trust the demon to deliver the blow. 

“I know what it’s like to miss Lucifer,” Eve offers hesitantly. And Chloe has grown to really like Eve in the time that’s past, she has, but this is a trespass too far. 

“Believe me,” Chloe says, a low venom in her tone, “when I tell you that you don’t.”

Eve stops and bites her lip, dark eyes wet. But she sits back and nods. Chloe ignores the way Maze glares at her. 

“None of you have any idea.”

“Chloe,” Ella tries. “We know it’s not the same-" 

She shakes her head, takes a step back. "Of course it’s not the same. You don’t even know the truth! About Lucifer or where he is! " 

"But you do,” Linda says, cutting through the sound of Chloe’s anger. “You know who Lucifer is, where he is. My question to you, Chloe, is…are you trying to join him?”

She shuts her eyes tight, hot tears spilling over her cheeks. One moment, to collect herself. She takes a breath and opens her eyes. Her voice is steady when she speaks. “Do you honestly think that? That I would do that?" 

"No, but Chloe, you have to admit that this behavior, it isn’t like you,” Linda says softly, sympathetically. 

She wants to laugh, because historically, throwing herself into work to avoid her issues is _exactly_ like her. “What else is left for me?” she asks Linda. “Besides my work?” Her personal life is in tatters, her friends all have shacked up with each other. 

“Your daughter-” Amenadiel starts. 

“_Don’t_.” It snarls out of her. “Don’t you dare bring my daughter into this.” She steps forward now, aggressive. “Not when you directly endangered her. Not when you have family and friends who love you and the ability to come and go as you please while Lucifer sacrifices and suffers to maintain _your_ happiness while you do _nothing_." 

Amenadiel looks stricken. Chloe straightens. Takes a page out of Lucifer’s book. "I’m done here." 

No one stops her. 

She slams the door on her way out. Her anger propels her forward, down the sidewalk, away from the house, away from them and their stupid worried eyes. It only takes her about twenty minutes of walking to feel terrible about what she said. Her pace slows. She’s got no phone so she can’t even text an apology. The desire to turn around and make amends haunts her steps, but she’s too stubborn to go back right away. 

Her feet stop when she realizes she’s at the beach. It’s full of people, but something about the place anchors her. She remembers finding Lucifer here, standing, jacket over his shoulder. The sand is gritty under her feet once she kicks off her boots. Deciding not to go as far as the waves, she picks a midway spot and sits, arms around her legs, cheek pressed to her knee. 

She cries a little, rubs the tears against the material of her jeans and tries to breathe around the awful rattle in her chest. They mean well, she knows. And they’re right. She’s been pushing herself at work, trying to keep herself distracted. She’s made some snap decisions that didn’t go as well as she’d hoped. She’s gotten hurt. She’s ignored their efforts to reach out.

It just feels so unfair sometimes. 

The constant rush of the waves is soothing, relentless. She times it with her breath, inhale, exhale, and closes her eyes. 

Slowly, the crowds of people start to lessen as the sun tips over the horizon. Cool ocean air moves in and she shivers. Not wanting to walk back in total darkness, she forces herself to her feet, does the best she can to swipe the sand off, and begins the walk home. 

There’s lights still on when she arrives and the door is thankfully unlocked, given her keys are still in the bowl just inside. 

"Dan? Listen, I’m really sorry about what I said.”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to save your apologies for Daniel until later,” a very familiar voice replies. 

She freezes, breath halting in her lungs. No. It couldn’t be. He steps around the kitchen counter like a figment of her imagination, tall and dark and perfect. 

“Lucifer?” Her pulse pounds, blood loud in her ears. 

He smiles, small and awkward and genuine, fingers fidgeting at his sides. “Hello, Detective.”

She tumbles forward, launching herself against him. He catches at her, surprised, and they collide in a tangle of limbs that only remains upright by the grace of his inhuman strength. He is warm and solid beneath her. 

“You’re here. You’re really here.” She runs her touch quickly over his arms, his chest, then up his throat to cradle his face. His stubble is rougher than usual, longer than he normally keeps it. 

His arms come around her, holding her tight. “I’m here, I promise.”

“How?" 

His laugh rumbles against her ear. "Believe it or not, Amenadiel.”

“What?” With an outcome of Lucifer standing in front of her maybe she should yell at Amenadiel more often, but as it is, she can’t help but be grateful she’s getting this moment with Lucifer, is able to see him again. Her chest feels tight. 

“He visited me.” Lucifer looks down at her. “I have been informed that you’ve been a bit…reckless, as of late.” His thumb lightly brushes the cut near her brow. “It appears I’ve been quite remiss on my Guardian Devil duties, Detective." 

"Chloe,” she corrects him. 

“Chloe,” Lucifer murmurs obediently. The tears well up again and he patiently wipes them away. 

“How long?” she asks. Needing to know. “How long until you have to go?” Because she knows it must be temporary. 

He smiles. “Actually, Amenadiel has some interesting things to say about responsibility and not taking advantage of sacrifice. He and I have worked out a bit of a schedule between the two of us to keep Hell busy." 

Her heart leaps. "So you can stay?”

“I take your safety _very_ seriously, Detective.” He grins and dips down to kiss her.


End file.
